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K-Fiction Series #13
알바생 자르기: Fired
To be considered interesting storytelling, a story's structure should be built around a clear conflict between good and evil--a good-hearted and righteous underdog, hired as a temporary employee, who stands up to his Goliath of a boss, who is a shameless and brazen oppressor. But from the onset of the story, Chang Kangmyoung's "Fired," the reader finds themselves resonating with, empathizing with, and cheering on the superior who wants to fire the subordinate part-timer. Why is this so?
118 pages, Paperback
Published October 12, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 6, 2025
Watch my review on YouTube here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bhAF...
KBS Korea 24 @KBSKorea24
“On #KoreaBookClub, @BarryPWelsh brings #ChangKangmyoung's "Fired." Through this story, the journalist-turned-novelist tackles the issue of generational conflict in the workplace and the bipolarity of employment practices in Korea. #KoreanLiterature #한국문학 #장강명 #알바생자르기”
19:10-20:00 KST, Mon-Fri on KBS WORLD Radio.
Download the KBS Kong / KBS WORLD Radio Mobile apps or subscribe to the Korea 24 podcast for your daily updates!
#KBSWORLDRadio #KBS월드라디오 #Korea24 #코리아24 #책스타그램 #북스타그램 #bookstagram #book #reading #KoreanLiterature #한국문학 (https://lnkd.in/gxkU6aW)
KBS Korea 24 @KBSKorea24
“On #KoreaBookClub, @BarryPWelsh brings #ChangKangmyoung's "Fired." Through this story, the journalist-turned-novelist tackles the issue of generational conflict in the workplace and the bipolarity of employment practices in Korea. #KoreanLiterature #한국문학 #장강명 #알바생자르기”
19:10-20:00 KST, Mon-Fri on KBS WORLD Radio.
Download the KBS Kong / KBS WORLD Radio Mobile apps or subscribe to the Korea 24 podcast for your daily updates!
#KBSWORLDRadio #KBS월드라디오 #Korea24 #코리아24 #책스타그램 #북스타그램 #bookstagram #book #reading #KoreanLiterature #한국문학 (https://lnkd.in/gxkU6aW)
July 31, 2016
"Fired" / "알바생 자르기" by 장강명 (Chang Kangmyoung), translated by Teresa Kim( 테레사 김) is book 13 in the K-fiction series of bilingual contemporary Korean fiction from Asia Publishers.
For my general comments on the series see https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...?.
은경 (Eun-yeong*) is the sales support assistant in the Seoul office of a German engineering company, secure in her reasonably well-paid job.
* my rendition into the Latin alphabet per the Revised Korean Romanization system approved by the Korean government: the book itself uses the perhaps more phonetically accurate but actually pointless McCune-Reischauer Romanization system which includes non standard Latin characters (dipthongs) and so rather defeats the whole point. End of rant.
혜미(Hye-mi) is the other administrative worker in an office otherwise staffed with salesmen and engineers. A temporary worker on a low salary (KRW1.55m or about GBP10k), commuting from long-distance, fitting in English nightclasses after work, and struggling to repay study loans, Eun-yeong feels sympathy for her.
But she is seen by the new Korean President of the office as a troublesome worker. She is frequently late for work (blaming the, to be fair notoriously unreliable, subway line from Incheon where she lives), fails to greet visitors with refreshments or even eye contact (albeit she claims to be embarassed by the lack of proper cups), takes time off during the day (although she says it's to visit a doctor) and leaves early (to make her classes).
Most of all, a particularly heinous crime in Korean corporate culture, "always goes out to eat her lunch alone, and I've often seen her sitting alone in a coffee shop reading a book".
"점심때도 맨날 혼자 나가서 밥 먹고,커피점에 혼자 앉아서 책 읽고 그러는 거 내가 자주 봤어요".
Eun-yeong later "advised her that to work in the corporate culture, you needed to be a 'people' person.".
("조직 생활을 하려면 붙임성이 있어야 하다"
- sociable would seem to be a better translation)
The President suggests to Eun-yeong that Hye-mi should be fired and leaves. her to do it. Eun-yeong's husband points out that she, as the girl's superior, is partly to blame for ruining her:
"You didn't say anything when she showed up late, and didn't say anything when she didn't bring refreshments for visitors. You just 'felt bad for her' and didn't reprimand her, right? That's why she became like that. Not everyone is like you or me.
There are people who need someone to endlessly motivate them, correct their mistakes, and to scold them. You didn't do any of this because of your misguided sympathy."
But as Eun-yeong tries to fire the girl, it turns out Hye-mi is, at least to Eun-yeong's eyes, perhaps less of a victim than she appears, and fully aware of her employment rights even as a temporary worker.
"Fired" certainly makes for an easy-to-read and quite humorous short story. And it serves as a very useful introduction to the conflicts in the Korean labour market, as expanded on in the author's afterword - in particular between:
- small companies (such as that for which the characters work) and the large Chaebol that represent their customers (at one point the company is obliged to send one employee to a anti-strike demonstration organised by one of their large customers, needless to say Hye-mi is loathe to go, leading to further conflict).
- the generation born in the 1960s/1970s (including Eun-yeong and her husband) and those born in the 1980s (Hye-mi)
- permanent employees with extensive labour rights vs. temporary workers with less albeit not no rights (these groups largely align with the two different generations)
- gender politics - Eun-yeong and Hye-mi are the only two female employees.
However, it doesn't function particularly well as literary fiction. E.g. The plot necessitates a rather clunky paragraph, inserted at a critical point, explaining Korean law on severance pay for temporary workers (the same paragraph exists in the original). The author's afterword and the accompanying critical commentary from Jung Eun-kyoung rather supports this, focused as they are more on the particulars of the Korean labour market than any literary merit.
For my general comments on the series see https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...?.
은경 (Eun-yeong*) is the sales support assistant in the Seoul office of a German engineering company, secure in her reasonably well-paid job.
* my rendition into the Latin alphabet per the Revised Korean Romanization system approved by the Korean government: the book itself uses the perhaps more phonetically accurate but actually pointless McCune-Reischauer Romanization system which includes non standard Latin characters (dipthongs) and so rather defeats the whole point. End of rant.
혜미(Hye-mi) is the other administrative worker in an office otherwise staffed with salesmen and engineers. A temporary worker on a low salary (KRW1.55m or about GBP10k), commuting from long-distance, fitting in English nightclasses after work, and struggling to repay study loans, Eun-yeong feels sympathy for her.
But she is seen by the new Korean President of the office as a troublesome worker. She is frequently late for work (blaming the, to be fair notoriously unreliable, subway line from Incheon where she lives), fails to greet visitors with refreshments or even eye contact (albeit she claims to be embarassed by the lack of proper cups), takes time off during the day (although she says it's to visit a doctor) and leaves early (to make her classes).
Most of all, a particularly heinous crime in Korean corporate culture, "always goes out to eat her lunch alone, and I've often seen her sitting alone in a coffee shop reading a book".
"점심때도 맨날 혼자 나가서 밥 먹고,커피점에 혼자 앉아서 책 읽고 그러는 거 내가 자주 봤어요".
Eun-yeong later "advised her that to work in the corporate culture, you needed to be a 'people' person.".
("조직 생활을 하려면 붙임성이 있어야 하다"
- sociable would seem to be a better translation)
The President suggests to Eun-yeong that Hye-mi should be fired and leaves. her to do it. Eun-yeong's husband points out that she, as the girl's superior, is partly to blame for ruining her:
"You didn't say anything when she showed up late, and didn't say anything when she didn't bring refreshments for visitors. You just 'felt bad for her' and didn't reprimand her, right? That's why she became like that. Not everyone is like you or me.
There are people who need someone to endlessly motivate them, correct their mistakes, and to scold them. You didn't do any of this because of your misguided sympathy."
But as Eun-yeong tries to fire the girl, it turns out Hye-mi is, at least to Eun-yeong's eyes, perhaps less of a victim than she appears, and fully aware of her employment rights even as a temporary worker.
"Fired" certainly makes for an easy-to-read and quite humorous short story. And it serves as a very useful introduction to the conflicts in the Korean labour market, as expanded on in the author's afterword - in particular between:
- small companies (such as that for which the characters work) and the large Chaebol that represent their customers (at one point the company is obliged to send one employee to a anti-strike demonstration organised by one of their large customers, needless to say Hye-mi is loathe to go, leading to further conflict).
- the generation born in the 1960s/1970s (including Eun-yeong and her husband) and those born in the 1980s (Hye-mi)
- permanent employees with extensive labour rights vs. temporary workers with less albeit not no rights (these groups largely align with the two different generations)
- gender politics - Eun-yeong and Hye-mi are the only two female employees.
However, it doesn't function particularly well as literary fiction. E.g. The plot necessitates a rather clunky paragraph, inserted at a critical point, explaining Korean law on severance pay for temporary workers (the same paragraph exists in the original). The author's afterword and the accompanying critical commentary from Jung Eun-kyoung rather supports this, focused as they are more on the particulars of the Korean labour market than any literary merit.
January 26, 2017
This is a short (very short) novella or a decent length short story about the plight of different generations of workers (especially women) in current day Korean society. The ostensible "main character", Eun-young, is a permanent employee at a small company who is put in the uncomfortable position of having to fire an underperforming younger subordinate named Hye-mi. Their interactions and lack of understanding underline the problems of Korean society today. Hye-mi is thought of as naive, unmotivated, and useless at her job by most of the office staff. Initially sticking up for her, Eun-young begins to internalise this narrative. The tables turn when Hye-mi, used to being shuffled between jobs due to the nature of "temporary employment" status most young Korean workers have to accept, takes advantage of Eun-young's lack of experience as a superior. Eun-young then begins to loath Hye-mi for doing what for Hye-mi are simply survival tactics, aspects of behavior Eun-young either cannot or refuses to identify with.
Hye-mi has legitimate grievances not just about her job but also a deeper angst about the precarious situation of young Koreans her age who are looking for stable employment in an over-educated, under-employed society. This book also contains a hilarious scene centring around some Thai business partners and Koreans who are proud to show off their country. Again, the tables turn when the Thai business men have more of an idea about Korean dramas than do the Korean employees. This book is a part of a larger series of short K-fiction stories that are essential for anyone trying to understand just what undergirds Korean society. Hint: it ain't all shiny, pretty faces and flashy electronics.
Hye-mi has legitimate grievances not just about her job but also a deeper angst about the precarious situation of young Koreans her age who are looking for stable employment in an over-educated, under-employed society. This book also contains a hilarious scene centring around some Thai business partners and Koreans who are proud to show off their country. Again, the tables turn when the Thai business men have more of an idea about Korean dramas than do the Korean employees. This book is a part of a larger series of short K-fiction stories that are essential for anyone trying to understand just what undergirds Korean society. Hint: it ain't all shiny, pretty faces and flashy electronics.
May 12, 2020
Many moons ago I worked in Seoul for 2 years, in a Market research agency. My company was very similar to the one in this book, in that it was a Korean branch of a European company. Of course, this was more or less a generation earlier (back in 2002), but many of the same issues and conflicts existed.
This is unfortunately all too short, and will probably just be read in one setting, but it gives a glimpse into life in a Korean office, and the conflicts that arise beneath the surface. I enjoyed it a lot, and I'll be looking for more by this author.
Btw, the afterword is probably required reading for non-Koreans, since it will clear up a couple points of the novel. Also, I agree with another reviewer re: the McCune-Reischauer Romanization. I wish they would just do away with that already.
This is unfortunately all too short, and will probably just be read in one setting, but it gives a glimpse into life in a Korean office, and the conflicts that arise beneath the surface. I enjoyed it a lot, and I'll be looking for more by this author.
Btw, the afterword is probably required reading for non-Koreans, since it will clear up a couple points of the novel. Also, I agree with another reviewer re: the McCune-Reischauer Romanization. I wish they would just do away with that already.
April 13, 2016
One of the better entries in the generally underwhelming ASIA Publishers short stories series. Uses the Turn of the Screw device - the same things seen from two points of view, which is realistic and which is delusional? - to make a social point.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews